It's hard to believe that Sir Alan Steer, an Essex headmaster and head of a government taskforce aimed at improving pupil behaviour, is a teacher with years of experience. Does he not know that, by making something off-limits to kids, he increases its desirability? By telling schools to ban gangsta rap, he's ensured that 50 Cent albums will be changing hands in the playground for inflated sums as pupils gleefully undermine the ban.

Sir Alan believes that listening to gangsta rap incites aggressive behaviour, a charge that has been levelled at the genre since the late 80s. It's true that some individuals might get hyped up by some of the more lurid songs, but to most adolescents, it has the same entertainment value as WWF wrestling. They know it's just theatre, and that the swearing, guns and threats are part of the performance. They also know that the violent history of the current top dog of gangsta, 50 Cent - shot nine times in a gang feud - is the exception, not the rule.

At the height of its popularity in America, in the mid-90s, before the deaths of star MCs Tupac Shakur and Notorious BIG made the genre the subject of fruitless clean-up campaigns, gangsta was as popular among white teenagers as black. It crossed racial lines for the reason all loud music does - it annoys parents.

Sir Alan's main objection is the lyrics, which glorify misogyny and lashing out over the most inconsequential "beef". But has he ever been to a hip-hop show? The violence that sometimes occurs at these has nothing to do with the lyrics, because live rap is almost completely indecipherable. The MC rumbling into a microphone could be saying anything from "I'm a thug" to "Do your homework".

A few sad kids will perceive the music as encouragement to "act out", but most have the sense to know that it's just music, not a lifestyle. Any school foolish enough to ban it will only make it more attractive.